A caller on CSPAN (before Biden’s speech) actually questioned West Point’s silence on Pompeo - as in why aren’t they revoking his diploma, etc. That’s an awfully high visibility grad to be having his clips rerun on RT… WWRT (What Would Reagan Think)?!…
Erik Prince was on Tucker Carlson praising Putin and dissing Biden and everyone who is opposing their Dear Leader.
Someone on my TV machine mentioned that we had a long time top level source in the Kremlin — so close he could provide us with pictures of documents Putin’s desk — that we had to extract after Trump revealed highly classified information with the Russian ambassador and the Russian foreign minister.
The CNN report said the CIA also mentioned speculation in the media about us having such a top level source but CNN could find no media reference t a possible source. Why does that make me suspect that Pompeo was trying to blame the media for what Trump did.
The media should be reminding everyone of Trump’s traitorous behavior. We would be so much better off if that source were still in place.
I take a much darker view based on the reporting right now (inflation, gas prices sure to rise—this is mentioned constantly, yet nothing about oh, the threat to democracy). This is going to be long and ugly, for sure. But any fallout we experience here is what's going to be the focus of media attention as spring/summer arrives and we get closer to the midterms.
My cats have longer attention spans and memories than many of my fellow Americans so all the pain happening right now? Just going to be forgotten or fade into the background.
I was thinking more along the lines of Democratic candidates, the DNC, coordinated messaging that throws these Republican/Russian talking points back in their faces and forces it into a campaign issue for Republicans that puts them on the unrelenting defensive. “Putin-sympathizer” “Traitor” “Dictator-In-Training,” etc… there’s a reason Mitch McConnell is being very careful not to jump on this bandwagon right now. I really hope Democrats use it to the hilt.
Agreed. I think this is going to backfire on Republicans, and then they will be painted as traitors who turned on their own country to support a murderous dictator, just in time for the midterms, as well as the Presidential elections. This messaging is a gift to Democrats in the long game.
I was shocked that an ordinary citizen phoned it in! I’d given up on the call-in shows (which I used to enjoy), as they have devolved into a rehash of 🦊 talking points…)
Maybe this is indicative of the Republican Party unraveling and their people not being as onboard with this lunacy as they think? I mean, their audience is aging, and they’re old enough to remember what Russia was like under the Soviet Union and that they are a traditional enemy who does not have America’s best interests at heart. Maybe Republican support of Putin confuses them and has woken them up to something very, very wrong with their leadership?
Perhaps they were indeed taken by surprise by the love Trump has been showing Putin. A lot of us boomers were raised to not trust Russia, and Putin is definitely not a guy we'd want our daughter to marry. My own parents told me how WW2 burned its way across Europe, so we want to nip this shit in the bud, not have the nitwit Trump tell us what a smart and great guy Putin is.
I haven’t seen much about this new CBS/YouGuv poll that the WaPo’s Jeniffer Rubin wrote about on Wednesday:
“CBS News reports on a poll it conducted with YouGov: “Large majorities — more than eight in 10 — don’t think books should be banned from schools for discussing race and criticizing U.S. history, for depicting slavery in the past or more broadly for political ideas they disagree with.” Whites, Blacks and parents all agree. So do more than 80 percent of Republicans. Moreover, CBS reports, “Four in 10 believe teaching about race in America makes people more racially tolerant today, too, well outpacing the few who think it does the opposite.”
Those facts don’t fit the media’s preferred framing of Republicans all being in sync with Trump, Pompeo and Tucker. The odious Tuckums even went on Russia’s RT television to decry the opposition of the US and Europe — and all civilized countries — to Putin’s horrific invasion. He also had an interview with Erik Prince in which Prince showed disdain for the American military, claiming they just might not be as capable as they think they are. Wish we could deport them to Russia.
The facts rarely fit the media’s preferred framing of Republicans all being in sync with Trump, Pompeo and Tucker. It’s a fabricated framing, like they’re just trying to will it into being, against the will of a huge majority. It will never work, but it does distort and undermine things.
Do these journalists understand the consequences if Putin style authoritarianism comes to America? Newsflash: We're teetering on it folks. We might just be looking at 10 more months of democracy if the Republicans take over congress. Because the media, even after Russia has invaded Ukraine, continue to hint at, if not downright, blame Biden for higher gas prices. That doesn't result in folks becoming more educated on why there is inflation. It forces the masses who would rather watch the Game Show Network instead of the news to assume Biden is at fault and why they will need to vote Republican in the midterms. Well, I hope our journalists are watching how brave Russian citizens spontaneously took to the streets to protest their leader's maniacal move this week. Most were arrested. Some will pay heavy fines, some will go to jail, and Russian journalists who report on this atrocity on human rights might also be imprisoned and even killed. Putin has done it before, he most certainly will do it again. So to the MSM, keep doing what you're doing and down the dark road, if that happens, don't look to me when they haul your ass away for doing your job. But what am I saying, American MSM journalists don't do their job anyway, haven't for years. They will simply kiss the ass of Trump or some worse American authoritarian leader.
I think the wealthy right wingers are very aware. They want to be like Putin’s oligarch cronies and they think getting Trump back in power will lead to just that. They are almost surely right.
Convincing people that Russia is great is paving the way for public acceptance
Historically, press freedom is one of the first things to die when authoritarian rule takes over. And the public barely notices because the government moves in and takes over the messaging. I remember it happening in Egypt while I lived there. Critics of the government stayed in their jobs for a time, but they were pressured to deliver pro-regime messaging, alter news stories and publicize fake stories.
I really doubt that most American journalists really understand that life can change overnight.
I agree. Just look at how many of them couldn’t believe that Trump would win. Then when he did they thought he would “pivot” to being a rational, responsible leader. They are the same people who couldn’t believe the Bush administration would get us into an unnecessary war. Their groupthink is a threat to our democracy.
They don't care. Anything that goes wrong will be the Dems' fault first and foremost. Most in the press will go along to get along just like they did in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Spain, the USSR and Putin's Russia, Orban's Hungary, etc.
Thank for that link. Thank god Liz Wahl was having none of it. Also that same page had a link to the amazing smack down Steve Schmidt gave Rich Lowry for saying Putin was afraid to do this when Trump was in office because Trump was so unpredictable.
Well-said. But surely the MSM would just blame Democrats for not being strong enough or fast enough or savvy enough to thwart the threat attacking them?
All of the current America First people are no more than a Fifth Column for Putin. That's the point being lost on the public by the press's soft-pedaling this as mere "divisions" within the Republican Party.
I'm enraged at the media's response to Trump and the GOP. With the exception of the coverage over Trump's remarks when he said he trusted Putin over our own intelligence agencies, journalists have and continue to mostly yawn and shrug. "Oh it's just boys being boys, and what's wrong with that anyway?" is their attitude.
Could you imagine the wall-to-wall coverage if a group of Dem Senators and Reps spent July 4 in Russia visiting Putin? And it's been what a week, maybe two, since news of Trump taking classified docs to Florida broke—which was treated mostly as a nothing burger even then—and it's already been forgotten.
This is a freaking war on European soil waged by a dictator who has invaded a sovereign nation under the false pretense of "Nazis" SUPPORTED by many in the GOP and their propaganda arm, and the mainstream media says "but what did Biden do wrong that he couldn't prevent this?"—coming on the heels of their questioning whether the admin was hyping the threat and manipulating intelligence. I despair.
I have heard some of the more influential never-Trumpers (especially The Bulkwark folks) say that the big problem is that the Democratic Party simply refuses to go on offense and to make the Republican Party’s dangerous thuggery and authoritarianism a major focus and differentiator, especially in campaigns all across the country.
Perhaps the NYTs, et al, are simply not willing to call out the authoritarian turn unless the Democrats make a campaign issue out of it. Then, at least, the NYTs might be forced to use the words “authoritarian” and “autocratic” in a sentence of their reporting here and there . . .
Um, NO. After two impeachments, 1/6, and countless comments, tweets, etc, the famous photo of Nancy in a room full of men telling Trump "with you all roads led to Putin," several books—including Adam Schiff's and Jamie Raskin's—and commentary on their own networks by historians and political scientists, IF ONLY Joe would say, oh look at their authoritarian behavior, suddenly the NYT would pay attention. Well, they would, but not in the way you think. It would be "a shocking break of decorum, how dare he, another gaffe, blah blah blah." That's the coverage we'd see.
Back in January, the Times wrote one weak-kneed editorial that pundits raved was oooh, so hard hitting, where they used the word authoritarian once and not in the same sentence as GOP. All of these outlets know it and they just don't care or are just too stupid and ignorant of history. They are so beholden to the GOP and so skeptical/critical of the Dems that I've come to the conclusion our media, with few exceptions, are hopelessly broken. If , God forbid, these fascists take over Congress in Nov and Mango Mussolini or Deathsantis is elected in 24, the press will go along with whatever they say and cover any outrage as just normal politics.
Oh don't I remember. "Vast right wing conspiracy" was turned into a media punchline even though it was true then and has become more so in the years since.
That’s what really pissed me off - as if she were just another ‘skirt’ not to be heeded nor admired. Secretary of State, First Lady, senator from NY. Her credentials stack up against the best of them. More crumbs of misogyny being scattered to follow down the wrong path.
That was then, this is now. Either we go on the offensive and take the growth of authoritarianism deadly seriously, or we will always and only be on the defensive. And we can see in Ukraine right now how well that works out! See my response also to Theodora30.
If you are ‘not good’ at bullying - trying to suddenly counter it ‘forcefully’ in the 11th hour could be disastrous… That said - it’s baffling why D leadership hasn’t outsourced that tactic by now… really really bewildering :/
Maybe the solution to this problem is to just bypass MSM and go straight to the American people, by way of mass text messages to every cell phone in America, with only one succinct sentence:
“Russian sympathizers are traitors,” “Putin is a tyrannical dictator,” “Ukraine belongs to itself,” etc… some new message in that vein every day to counteract this bizarre rightwing messaging of Russian talking points.
As long as it isn’t directed at any specific political party in America, I think it’s legal, and it wouldn’t even be hard or expensive to do. Just give people the option to opt out of any further text messages if they want.
But they’re long winded and part of coordinated campaigns. I’m talking about just the talking points without caveat, not even contributing it to any one campaign or organization. Just straight-up advertising.
I essentially agree with all of these responses, EXCEPT, I would reply with a version of “that was then and this is now.” Leadership of the Dem Party is constantly herding cats. There has to be at least one underlying and overwhelming Party-line that the entire party adopts as a differentiator. In the face of a growing and overtly thuggish authoritarian fifth column throughout the US, the Party would be completely failing the American People by not identifying it, calling it out, and making them prove otherwise.
If we don’t do that, we will be only and always on the defensive,. And we can see how that is playing-out in Ukraine.
What's different about now? A war in Europe? Media doesn't care except that it's another big story to cover. They don't give a fig about democracy—well except to make sure right wing voices can be heard, cause freedom of speech. Anytime that a Dem, and especially the president, calls the GOP out, the media use another of their tried and true tropes—"oh look he's being divisive." As for the party calling out fascism and the support for authoritarians as undemocratic—"well that's just politics." Journalists refuse to make what they consider a judgment call. It's pathetic.
I don't take comfort from that poll. Less than half of the Republicans polled think NATO is worth anything and the person who has been the driver uniting allies and leading the response, Joe Biden, has the worst marks of all:
"Prior to the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine situation this week, Americans were not convinced that Biden was in command of the situation, with just 36% approving of how he is handling relations with Russia. This is lower than Biden's overall job approval of 41% in the same poll and reflects fewer than two-thirds of his fellow Democrats approving (64%), along with a third of independents (35%) and just 11% of Republicans
These same republicans support Trump ("I'd rather be Russian than a Dem") and vote for the GOP—two weeks ago "Putin was our friend." They only see Russia as a threat right now because it plays into their view that "Biden is weak."
In a few weeks the story will be "Putin had a right to defend himself, and why do we even care because look at how much it is to fill my gas tank, it's all Biden's fault because he insisted on pushing Putin to invade some dumb country I've barely heard of and can't find on a map anyway. And at least Putin is strong enough to get what he wants unlike the hapless Dems."
I think the Democratic Party should absolutely make a campaign issue out of this, across the country in the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential elections. Turn this on Republicans like a bad penny and make Russian sympathizers traitors and pariahs again.
The GOP and the entirety of the right is filled with people who were the sidekicks of the high school bully. The ones who stood behind his shoulder ready to say, "That's a good one, Butch," whenever he insulted someone. The ones who would use a fist or a well-placed kick only after their leader knocked someone down. Its a sniveling worship of the might-is-right philosophy of the fascist that you always see in the pig farmers and tailors who are only as tough as the fancy uniform they wear gives them permission to be.
The media doesn't even pause to consider how bizarre it is for someone to quote themselves - "So I said to myself..." - as Trump routinely does. If anyone else did that the story would be how deeply delusion one has to be to think that what they say to themselves bolsters what they say to others. {Not to mention the oddness of talking to yourself in the first place.}
Remember when the MSM laughed at Trump and thought he was just good entertainment, but as fake as those wrestlers he promoted and not to be taken seriously? Ah, those were the good ol’ days.
The failure of Ukraine vis a vis its people and that of the west vis a vis Ukraine since the collapse of the USSR is breath taking.
A footnote to Eric’s excellent post is that one of the last opportunities to help Ukraine was in 2019 when Trump chose to fuck with Zelensky instead of doing what he is completely incapable of doing: acting responsibly.
And a punchline to todays post. WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin wants responsibility from the same mainstream media who’ve gone above and beyond in supporting the GOP:
As if Biden wasn’t fully aware of and informed on Putin’s plan. He told us almost daily not to underestimate Putin. He told us almost daily to expect this invasion, and I admit I did not believe Putin would actually go through with it, but not for lack of Biden’s candor and warnings. This rightwing messaging campaign to paint Biden as weak while they embolden Putin and spew Russian talking points is nothing short of TREASON. And it is beyond time for mainstream media to get with the program and hold them accountable for it.
If you’d like, it would be beyond cool if you read my latest newsletter post, Eric:
Weekly Roundup:
Russia starts WWIII, Biden is exactly the POTUS we need in this moment, Republicans commit treason… Again
This piece of shit article is just so wrong. I blame so much of what has happened to mainstream media on Politico and the disgraced Mark Halperin (among others).
I'm not sure why you—and many, many others, you aren't alone—didn't think Putin was going to invade Ukraine. I also don't understand why the media keeps asking what his end game is when he's said he is going to replace the current "Nazi" government. It doesn't get clearer than that, yet journalists refuse to listen. I believe this is only the beginning. He is going to test Nato and the West's resolve because he wants all of the old Soviet/Russian empire borders back. He threatened us with nukes if we interfere. It wasn't a "we do not want to have to use all of the weapons in our arsenal" kind of threat, acknowledging that nukes would be a step too far. It's "I've got nukes."
One of the big pieces in the Russia GOP love affair the media is missing is the connection between conservative Christians and Putin. Just as Netanyahu plays a cynical game with the Evangelicals, so does Putin. Because of his anti-gay etc politics, these RW "Christians" see him as a "true leader" and an ally in their war against the godless liberals. They are all despicable.
In all honesty, I didn’t think Putin was batshit crazy enough to start WWIII. Historically, the Cold War was a constant nuclear threat, but he never actually launched a nuclear weapon at anybody. So, I really believed this was just him testing the waters and the threat was empty. Now, it’s like our leaders think he really will launch a nuclear weapon if they don’t tread carefully, and it is not just an empty threat this time.
And yes. Conservative Christians have always been the worst. They just love tyrannical dictators. They helped usher in Hitler and the Nazis too.
That's the big question—why is Putin risking all of this right now? Even Russians are surprised at this invasion. They know he's ruthless but they always thought of him as being level headed. Something over the past few months set him off. Illness (saw some speculation about long covid and brain fog on Twitter)? Some internal threat we know nothing about (but maybe the IC does)? Just too long living in a bubble of yes men and toadies like Trump? I have no idea.
So the problem remains, that Americans get screwed by a press more willing to protect itself from Republican criticism than to provide real coverage of this travesty. I don't trust a damn thing I read on Ukraine, just as I didn't believe what I read about the US invasion of Iraq. It is not the media's job to either promote or protect anyone's agenda, especially Donald Trump's and the GOP's. We could be looking at the beginnings of WW3 here, and the deaths of tens of thousands of people, yet it's just not sinking in.
Exactly. This is so completely WTF unacceptable. And it still surprises me how willing Republicans are to do this about-face regarding Putin and Russia. I’m old enough to remember when Russia and any leader of Russia was persona non grata, evil, not to be trusted, and now they are defending PUTIN??? It’s insane.
MSM got addicted to the ratings high Trump gave them through chaos and drama, and now they have chosen that high over democracy and the future of the free world, and a sovereign country’s right to exist.
I just finished reading about what's happening at the CPAC conference, in a piece published on HuffPost, which is better than average for most media outlets when it comes to saying, "Look at these crazy assholes." It just smacked me between the eyes, seeing how the Republican cult has been portrayed elsewhere as being entitled to its bizarre pro-Putin stance because, hey, it's just politics. The big papers such as the NYT and WaPo, and Big Media, are finally getting some steak after several months of trying to turn their diet of peas and carrots into caviar. WaPo has done an adequate job of reporting Putin's lies, but overall the coverage has been so dry and wordy that it's hard to actually make sense of it. Good reporting does not only supply facts, but it should also engage the reader.
Making Republican viewpoints respectable or normal is not the press' job. Why do they think it is? Making the murderer Putin into a world leader with legitimate concerns for his country is such bullshit that anyone who does it should be thrown out of politics, not given a feature story.
I haven't read it yet because I have to feed my cats (the more serious one weighs 22 lbs) but I just saw a WaPo story whose title says Trump's "isolated" by his pro-Putin stance. Funny, but that's not the impression I'm getting at all. However, Tucker Carlson has apparently changed his tune, but as for most of the coverage out there, it's as though they find Putin's rationale for invasion quite logical instead of evil.
They have nowhere to backpedal to, because the US is part of a huge and very solid coalition of countries united in their response to Putin. They will all desert Putin because there is nothing to be gained from aligning with him. Apparently they're all busy "interpreting" what Trump "really meant" in his remarks about Putin, claiming that they were meant as criticisms of Biden, not praise for Putin.
The Corporate Controlled Conservative Press has already made their choice and it's whatever the Republican Party demands.
The CCCP is totally corrupted and it just cannot be saved.
When the Republicans get Congress back which they will the press will continue to be nothing more than TASS/Izvestia/Pravda was in the USSR. Nothing will stop them from reciting the latest GOP talking points.
Thus again why I say that as great a threat as the republican party is, the political media are an even greater threat. The solution? If I were independently wealthy, I would dedicate my life to organizing boycotts. Money would talk.
Seriously, the only way Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito will ever leave is when the Grim Reaper decides to do their job.
Seriously, that idiot keeps taking away the wrong people from the end of 2021 until now.
The death list right now has Betty White, Peter Bogdanovich, Sidney Potier, Bob Saget, Ronnie Spector, Meatloaf, Louie Anderson, Howard Hesseman, Ivan Reitman, Mark Lanegan, Sally Kellerman......
Aside from Alito & Thomas, there's the Tangerine Turdblossom, Vladimir Putin, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Rupert Murdoch, Greg Abbott, and the sh*t-ton of assholes in the GOP who deserve a one way trip to hell.
A caller on CSPAN (before Biden’s speech) actually questioned West Point’s silence on Pompeo - as in why aren’t they revoking his diploma, etc. That’s an awfully high visibility grad to be having his clips rerun on RT… WWRT (What Would Reagan Think)?!…
excellent point re: Pompeo
He’s another transparent megalomaniac infecting the Republican Party.
Erik Prince was on Tucker Carlson praising Putin and dissing Biden and everyone who is opposing their Dear Leader.
Someone on my TV machine mentioned that we had a long time top level source in the Kremlin — so close he could provide us with pictures of documents Putin’s desk — that we had to extract after Trump revealed highly classified information with the Russian ambassador and the Russian foreign minister.
The CNN report said the CIA also mentioned speculation in the media about us having such a top level source but CNN could find no media reference t a possible source. Why does that make me suspect that Pompeo was trying to blame the media for what Trump did.
The media should be reminding everyone of Trump’s traitorous behavior. We would be so much better off if that source were still in place.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/politics/russia-us-spy-extracted/index.html
I think this lavish praise of Putin is going to be harder to pull off as Russia gets bogged down in Ukraine
I take a much darker view based on the reporting right now (inflation, gas prices sure to rise—this is mentioned constantly, yet nothing about oh, the threat to democracy). This is going to be long and ugly, for sure. But any fallout we experience here is what's going to be the focus of media attention as spring/summer arrives and we get closer to the midterms.
My cats have longer attention spans and memories than many of my fellow Americans so all the pain happening right now? Just going to be forgotten or fade into the background.
I was thinking more along the lines of Democratic candidates, the DNC, coordinated messaging that throws these Republican/Russian talking points back in their faces and forces it into a campaign issue for Republicans that puts them on the unrelenting defensive. “Putin-sympathizer” “Traitor” “Dictator-In-Training,” etc… there’s a reason Mitch McConnell is being very careful not to jump on this bandwagon right now. I really hope Democrats use it to the hilt.
Agreed. I think this is going to backfire on Republicans, and then they will be painted as traitors who turned on their own country to support a murderous dictator, just in time for the midterms, as well as the Presidential elections. This messaging is a gift to Democrats in the long game.
Erik Prince is a war profiteer; he’s drumming up business.
He's not just a war profiteer; he is most definitely on the side of the plutocrats and dictators.
It’s also interesting when looking back at Eric Prince and his secret meeting with the Russians in the Seychelles.
I love this. The drums of treason should be beating everywhere.
I was shocked that an ordinary citizen phoned it in! I’d given up on the call-in shows (which I used to enjoy), as they have devolved into a rehash of 🦊 talking points…)
Maybe this is indicative of the Republican Party unraveling and their people not being as onboard with this lunacy as they think? I mean, their audience is aging, and they’re old enough to remember what Russia was like under the Soviet Union and that they are a traditional enemy who does not have America’s best interests at heart. Maybe Republican support of Putin confuses them and has woken them up to something very, very wrong with their leadership?
Perhaps they were indeed taken by surprise by the love Trump has been showing Putin. A lot of us boomers were raised to not trust Russia, and Putin is definitely not a guy we'd want our daughter to marry. My own parents told me how WW2 burned its way across Europe, so we want to nip this shit in the bud, not have the nitwit Trump tell us what a smart and great guy Putin is.
I haven’t seen much about this new CBS/YouGuv poll that the WaPo’s Jeniffer Rubin wrote about on Wednesday:
“CBS News reports on a poll it conducted with YouGov: “Large majorities — more than eight in 10 — don’t think books should be banned from schools for discussing race and criticizing U.S. history, for depicting slavery in the past or more broadly for political ideas they disagree with.” Whites, Blacks and parents all agree. So do more than 80 percent of Republicans. Moreover, CBS reports, “Four in 10 believe teaching about race in America makes people more racially tolerant today, too, well outpacing the few who think it does the opposite.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/23/republican-hysterics-wokeness-critical-race-theory-book-banning-/
Those facts don’t fit the media’s preferred framing of Republicans all being in sync with Trump, Pompeo and Tucker. The odious Tuckums even went on Russia’s RT television to decry the opposition of the US and Europe — and all civilized countries — to Putin’s horrific invasion. He also had an interview with Erik Prince in which Prince showed disdain for the American military, claiming they just might not be as capable as they think they are. Wish we could deport them to Russia.
The facts rarely fit the media’s preferred framing of Republicans all being in sync with Trump, Pompeo and Tucker. It’s a fabricated framing, like they’re just trying to will it into being, against the will of a huge majority. It will never work, but it does distort and undermine things.
Do these journalists understand the consequences if Putin style authoritarianism comes to America? Newsflash: We're teetering on it folks. We might just be looking at 10 more months of democracy if the Republicans take over congress. Because the media, even after Russia has invaded Ukraine, continue to hint at, if not downright, blame Biden for higher gas prices. That doesn't result in folks becoming more educated on why there is inflation. It forces the masses who would rather watch the Game Show Network instead of the news to assume Biden is at fault and why they will need to vote Republican in the midterms. Well, I hope our journalists are watching how brave Russian citizens spontaneously took to the streets to protest their leader's maniacal move this week. Most were arrested. Some will pay heavy fines, some will go to jail, and Russian journalists who report on this atrocity on human rights might also be imprisoned and even killed. Putin has done it before, he most certainly will do it again. So to the MSM, keep doing what you're doing and down the dark road, if that happens, don't look to me when they haul your ass away for doing your job. But what am I saying, American MSM journalists don't do their job anyway, haven't for years. They will simply kiss the ass of Trump or some worse American authoritarian leader.
that continues to be a unexplained portion of this, the lack of self-awareness re: what authoritarianism means to US media
I think the wealthy right wingers are very aware. They want to be like Putin’s oligarch cronies and they think getting Trump back in power will lead to just that. They are almost surely right.
Convincing people that Russia is great is paving the way for public acceptance
What Theodora said. The plutocrats never pay their tabs.
Wow.
Maybe the U.S. MSM, or at least the NYT wants to be like RT?
I think they refuse to see the risk of there no longer being a relatively free press. That just can't happen in America, they think.
American exceptionalism is a dangerous belief because it leads people to think we are immune to this kind of disaster.
Historically, press freedom is one of the first things to die when authoritarian rule takes over. And the public barely notices because the government moves in and takes over the messaging. I remember it happening in Egypt while I lived there. Critics of the government stayed in their jobs for a time, but they were pressured to deliver pro-regime messaging, alter news stories and publicize fake stories.
I really doubt that most American journalists really understand that life can change overnight.
I agree. Just look at how many of them couldn’t believe that Trump would win. Then when he did they thought he would “pivot” to being a rational, responsible leader. They are the same people who couldn’t believe the Bush administration would get us into an unnecessary war. Their groupthink is a threat to our democracy.
That is the ONLY question the msm should answer prior to any more bloviating.
They don't care. Anything that goes wrong will be the Dems' fault first and foremost. Most in the press will go along to get along just like they did in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Spain, the USSR and Putin's Russia, Orban's Hungary, etc.
just like w/ Covid
Want an example...Here's Dan Abrams playing down Tucker Carlson's asskissing of Putin!
In fact Dan gets a little testy when he's called out for defending Fucker C!
https://www.rawstory.com/tucker-carlson-russia-2656788134/?utm_source=push_notifications
Thank for that link. Thank god Liz Wahl was having none of it. Also that same page had a link to the amazing smack down Steve Schmidt gave Rich Lowry for saying Putin was afraid to do this when Trump was in office because Trump was so unpredictable.
https://twitter.com/SteveSchmidtSES/status/1496118854849867782
Yep. And then they will find a way to blame someone besides themselves for the fall of Democracy.
Well-said. But surely the MSM would just blame Democrats for not being strong enough or fast enough or savvy enough to thwart the threat attacking them?
"The Republican party has blood on their hands."
Oh, and don't forget that senema drama queen. Her traitorous public statement should be read at her sentencing.
Whoops, meant stefanick.
The one bright spot is reading the various responses to that traitorous statement on Twitter.
As does the carlson clown from that fox outfit.
All of the current America First people are no more than a Fifth Column for Putin. That's the point being lost on the public by the press's soft-pedaling this as mere "divisions" within the Republican Party.
agreed, America Lasters
These are the times when I question the intelligence of our citizens.
I'm enraged at the media's response to Trump and the GOP. With the exception of the coverage over Trump's remarks when he said he trusted Putin over our own intelligence agencies, journalists have and continue to mostly yawn and shrug. "Oh it's just boys being boys, and what's wrong with that anyway?" is their attitude.
Could you imagine the wall-to-wall coverage if a group of Dem Senators and Reps spent July 4 in Russia visiting Putin? And it's been what a week, maybe two, since news of Trump taking classified docs to Florida broke—which was treated mostly as a nothing burger even then—and it's already been forgotten.
This is a freaking war on European soil waged by a dictator who has invaded a sovereign nation under the false pretense of "Nazis" SUPPORTED by many in the GOP and their propaganda arm, and the mainstream media says "but what did Biden do wrong that he couldn't prevent this?"—coming on the heels of their questioning whether the admin was hyping the threat and manipulating intelligence. I despair.
☝️☝️☝️
I have heard some of the more influential never-Trumpers (especially The Bulkwark folks) say that the big problem is that the Democratic Party simply refuses to go on offense and to make the Republican Party’s dangerous thuggery and authoritarianism a major focus and differentiator, especially in campaigns all across the country.
Perhaps the NYTs, et al, are simply not willing to call out the authoritarian turn unless the Democrats make a campaign issue out of it. Then, at least, the NYTs might be forced to use the words “authoritarian” and “autocratic” in a sentence of their reporting here and there . . .
I think Dems can always do a better job, but as you say the challenge wouldn’t be so great if press did their job
Um, NO. After two impeachments, 1/6, and countless comments, tweets, etc, the famous photo of Nancy in a room full of men telling Trump "with you all roads led to Putin," several books—including Adam Schiff's and Jamie Raskin's—and commentary on their own networks by historians and political scientists, IF ONLY Joe would say, oh look at their authoritarian behavior, suddenly the NYT would pay attention. Well, they would, but not in the way you think. It would be "a shocking break of decorum, how dare he, another gaffe, blah blah blah." That's the coverage we'd see.
Back in January, the Times wrote one weak-kneed editorial that pundits raved was oooh, so hard hitting, where they used the word authoritarian once and not in the same sentence as GOP. All of these outlets know it and they just don't care or are just too stupid and ignorant of history. They are so beholden to the GOP and so skeptical/critical of the Dems that I've come to the conclusion our media, with few exceptions, are hopelessly broken. If , God forbid, these fascists take over Congress in Nov and Mango Mussolini or Deathsantis is elected in 24, the press will go along with whatever they say and cover any outrage as just normal politics.
Hillary was excoriated when she dared to say that the media should report on the right wing conspiracy peddling lies about her and Bill
Oh don't I remember. "Vast right wing conspiracy" was turned into a media punchline even though it was true then and has become more so in the years since.
And then she was told to ‘Go away’… dismissed.
That’s what really pissed me off - as if she were just another ‘skirt’ not to be heeded nor admired. Secretary of State, First Lady, senator from NY. Her credentials stack up against the best of them. More crumbs of misogyny being scattered to follow down the wrong path.
Hillary has been right about all of it re:TFG.
Yep. I will never forgive America’s MSM for their treatment of Hillary.
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That was then, this is now. Either we go on the offensive and take the growth of authoritarianism deadly seriously, or we will always and only be on the defensive. And we can see in Ukraine right now how well that works out! See my response also to Theodora30.
If you are ‘not good’ at bullying - trying to suddenly counter it ‘forcefully’ in the 11th hour could be disastrous… That said - it’s baffling why D leadership hasn’t outsourced that tactic by now… really really bewildering :/
Maybe the solution to this problem is to just bypass MSM and go straight to the American people, by way of mass text messages to every cell phone in America, with only one succinct sentence:
“Russian sympathizers are traitors,” “Putin is a tyrannical dictator,” “Ukraine belongs to itself,” etc… some new message in that vein every day to counteract this bizarre rightwing messaging of Russian talking points.
As long as it isn’t directed at any specific political party in America, I think it’s legal, and it wouldn’t even be hard or expensive to do. Just give people the option to opt out of any further text messages if they want.
They do that. I get emails and texts from the Dems all the time talking about the threats we are facing from the GOP and RW propaganda media.
But they’re long winded and part of coordinated campaigns. I’m talking about just the talking points without caveat, not even contributing it to any one campaign or organization. Just straight-up advertising.
The bypassing will be via newsletter subscriptions I’ve heard…
But if they put too much emphasis on that voters will punish them for being too divisive and the media almost certainly will too
I essentially agree with all of these responses, EXCEPT, I would reply with a version of “that was then and this is now.” Leadership of the Dem Party is constantly herding cats. There has to be at least one underlying and overwhelming Party-line that the entire party adopts as a differentiator. In the face of a growing and overtly thuggish authoritarian fifth column throughout the US, the Party would be completely failing the American People by not identifying it, calling it out, and making them prove otherwise.
If we don’t do that, we will be only and always on the defensive,. And we can see how that is playing-out in Ukraine.
What's different about now? A war in Europe? Media doesn't care except that it's another big story to cover. They don't give a fig about democracy—well except to make sure right wing voices can be heard, cause freedom of speech. Anytime that a Dem, and especially the president, calls the GOP out, the media use another of their tried and true tropes—"oh look he's being divisive." As for the party calling out fascism and the support for authoritarians as undemocratic—"well that's just politics." Journalists refuse to make what they consider a judgment call. It's pathetic.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/390140/public-sees-russia-ukraine-conflict-critical-threat.aspx
I don't take comfort from that poll. Less than half of the Republicans polled think NATO is worth anything and the person who has been the driver uniting allies and leading the response, Joe Biden, has the worst marks of all:
"Prior to the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine situation this week, Americans were not convinced that Biden was in command of the situation, with just 36% approving of how he is handling relations with Russia. This is lower than Biden's overall job approval of 41% in the same poll and reflects fewer than two-thirds of his fellow Democrats approving (64%), along with a third of independents (35%) and just 11% of Republicans
These same republicans support Trump ("I'd rather be Russian than a Dem") and vote for the GOP—two weeks ago "Putin was our friend." They only see Russia as a threat right now because it plays into their view that "Biden is weak."
In a few weeks the story will be "Putin had a right to defend himself, and why do we even care because look at how much it is to fill my gas tank, it's all Biden's fault because he insisted on pushing Putin to invade some dumb country I've barely heard of and can't find on a map anyway. And at least Putin is strong enough to get what he wants unlike the hapless Dems."
Exactly! Well-said.
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Yes, the GOP, Trump and his minions, are tearing apart this country, yet the press/media is consistently calling out the Dems as divisive.
I think the Democratic Party should absolutely make a campaign issue out of this, across the country in the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential elections. Turn this on Republicans like a bad penny and make Russian sympathizers traitors and pariahs again.
I'm just waiting for Putin to address CPAC and see the crowd give him a standing ovation filled with plenty of asskissing.
Well, they've got Tulsi Gabbard in the meantime.
The GOP and the entirety of the right is filled with people who were the sidekicks of the high school bully. The ones who stood behind his shoulder ready to say, "That's a good one, Butch," whenever he insulted someone. The ones who would use a fist or a well-placed kick only after their leader knocked someone down. Its a sniveling worship of the might-is-right philosophy of the fascist that you always see in the pig farmers and tailors who are only as tough as the fancy uniform they wear gives them permission to be.
I love the Magneto X-Men reference. And you are exactly right. Fascist bullies are so predictable.
My favorite scene from that film. Satisfying.
Or guys who longed to have the bully’s approval
Probably came from emotionally abusive families.
Not a bad theory!
The media doesn't even pause to consider how bizarre it is for someone to quote themselves - "So I said to myself..." - as Trump routinely does. If anyone else did that the story would be how deeply delusion one has to be to think that what they say to themselves bolsters what they say to others. {Not to mention the oddness of talking to yourself in the first place.}
Remember when the MSM laughed at Trump and thought he was just good entertainment, but as fake as those wrestlers he promoted and not to be taken seriously? Ah, those were the good ol’ days.
The failure of Ukraine vis a vis its people and that of the west vis a vis Ukraine since the collapse of the USSR is breath taking.
A footnote to Eric’s excellent post is that one of the last opportunities to help Ukraine was in 2019 when Trump chose to fuck with Zelensky instead of doing what he is completely incapable of doing: acting responsibly.
And a punchline to todays post. WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin wants responsibility from the same mainstream media who’ve gone above and beyond in supporting the GOP:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/24/media-republicans-boosting-republican/
Politico published this late yesterday:
Putin was playing Biden all along
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/24/putin-was-playing-biden-all-along-00011555
As if Biden wasn’t fully aware of and informed on Putin’s plan. He told us almost daily not to underestimate Putin. He told us almost daily to expect this invasion, and I admit I did not believe Putin would actually go through with it, but not for lack of Biden’s candor and warnings. This rightwing messaging campaign to paint Biden as weak while they embolden Putin and spew Russian talking points is nothing short of TREASON. And it is beyond time for mainstream media to get with the program and hold them accountable for it.
If you’d like, it would be beyond cool if you read my latest newsletter post, Eric:
Weekly Roundup:
Russia starts WWIII, Biden is exactly the POTUS we need in this moment, Republicans commit treason… Again
https://panem.substack.com/p/weekly-roundup-bb3?r=17kwba&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
This piece of shit article is just so wrong. I blame so much of what has happened to mainstream media on Politico and the disgraced Mark Halperin (among others).
I'm not sure why you—and many, many others, you aren't alone—didn't think Putin was going to invade Ukraine. I also don't understand why the media keeps asking what his end game is when he's said he is going to replace the current "Nazi" government. It doesn't get clearer than that, yet journalists refuse to listen. I believe this is only the beginning. He is going to test Nato and the West's resolve because he wants all of the old Soviet/Russian empire borders back. He threatened us with nukes if we interfere. It wasn't a "we do not want to have to use all of the weapons in our arsenal" kind of threat, acknowledging that nukes would be a step too far. It's "I've got nukes."
One of the big pieces in the Russia GOP love affair the media is missing is the connection between conservative Christians and Putin. Just as Netanyahu plays a cynical game with the Evangelicals, so does Putin. Because of his anti-gay etc politics, these RW "Christians" see him as a "true leader" and an ally in their war against the godless liberals. They are all despicable.
In all honesty, I didn’t think Putin was batshit crazy enough to start WWIII. Historically, the Cold War was a constant nuclear threat, but he never actually launched a nuclear weapon at anybody. So, I really believed this was just him testing the waters and the threat was empty. Now, it’s like our leaders think he really will launch a nuclear weapon if they don’t tread carefully, and it is not just an empty threat this time.
And yes. Conservative Christians have always been the worst. They just love tyrannical dictators. They helped usher in Hitler and the Nazis too.
That's the big question—why is Putin risking all of this right now? Even Russians are surprised at this invasion. They know he's ruthless but they always thought of him as being level headed. Something over the past few months set him off. Illness (saw some speculation about long covid and brain fog on Twitter)? Some internal threat we know nothing about (but maybe the IC does)? Just too long living in a bubble of yes men and toadies like Trump? I have no idea.
So the problem remains, that Americans get screwed by a press more willing to protect itself from Republican criticism than to provide real coverage of this travesty. I don't trust a damn thing I read on Ukraine, just as I didn't believe what I read about the US invasion of Iraq. It is not the media's job to either promote or protect anyone's agenda, especially Donald Trump's and the GOP's. We could be looking at the beginnings of WW3 here, and the deaths of tens of thousands of people, yet it's just not sinking in.
Exactly. This is so completely WTF unacceptable. And it still surprises me how willing Republicans are to do this about-face regarding Putin and Russia. I’m old enough to remember when Russia and any leader of Russia was persona non grata, evil, not to be trusted, and now they are defending PUTIN??? It’s insane.
MSM got addicted to the ratings high Trump gave them through chaos and drama, and now they have chosen that high over democracy and the future of the free world, and a sovereign country’s right to exist.
I just finished reading about what's happening at the CPAC conference, in a piece published on HuffPost, which is better than average for most media outlets when it comes to saying, "Look at these crazy assholes." It just smacked me between the eyes, seeing how the Republican cult has been portrayed elsewhere as being entitled to its bizarre pro-Putin stance because, hey, it's just politics. The big papers such as the NYT and WaPo, and Big Media, are finally getting some steak after several months of trying to turn their diet of peas and carrots into caviar. WaPo has done an adequate job of reporting Putin's lies, but overall the coverage has been so dry and wordy that it's hard to actually make sense of it. Good reporting does not only supply facts, but it should also engage the reader.
Making Republican viewpoints respectable or normal is not the press' job. Why do they think it is? Making the murderer Putin into a world leader with legitimate concerns for his country is such bullshit that anyone who does it should be thrown out of politics, not given a feature story.
I’m beginning to think the MSM actually wants to be America’s RT. They have certainly taken on the role of publicists for the Republican Party.
I haven't read it yet because I have to feed my cats (the more serious one weighs 22 lbs) but I just saw a WaPo story whose title says Trump's "isolated" by his pro-Putin stance. Funny, but that's not the impression I'm getting at all. However, Tucker Carlson has apparently changed his tune, but as for most of the coverage out there, it's as though they find Putin's rationale for invasion quite logical instead of evil.
Ah, so their alignment with Putin to own Biden is already starting to backfire on them. That didn’t take long.
They have nowhere to backpedal to, because the US is part of a huge and very solid coalition of countries united in their response to Putin. They will all desert Putin because there is nothing to be gained from aligning with him. Apparently they're all busy "interpreting" what Trump "really meant" in his remarks about Putin, claiming that they were meant as criticisms of Biden, not praise for Putin.
The Corporate Controlled Conservative Press has already made their choice and it's whatever the Republican Party demands.
The CCCP is totally corrupted and it just cannot be saved.
When the Republicans get Congress back which they will the press will continue to be nothing more than TASS/Izvestia/Pravda was in the USSR. Nothing will stop them from reciting the latest GOP talking points.
Thus again why I say that as great a threat as the republican party is, the political media are an even greater threat. The solution? If I were independently wealthy, I would dedicate my life to organizing boycotts. Money would talk.
This is a current subhead on the front page of today's Wapo:
Poll: Americans divided over whether first Black female justice would be good for the U.S.
WE ARE BROKEN
The actual headline of the story is slightly different but just as appalling:
Americans divided over whether first Black female justice will make a difference, Post-ABC poll finds
MEDIA IS BROKEN
Seriously, the only way Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito will ever leave is when the Grim Reaper decides to do their job.
Seriously, that idiot keeps taking away the wrong people from the end of 2021 until now.
The death list right now has Betty White, Peter Bogdanovich, Sidney Potier, Bob Saget, Ronnie Spector, Meatloaf, Louie Anderson, Howard Hesseman, Ivan Reitman, Mark Lanegan, Sally Kellerman......
Aside from Alito & Thomas, there's the Tangerine Turdblossom, Vladimir Putin, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Rupert Murdoch, Greg Abbott, and the sh*t-ton of assholes in the GOP who deserve a one way trip to hell.